Mizuho’s top stock picks from here, including a new chip play
Mizuho has unveiled its top stock picks for September, and it contains a notable chipmaker. It’s been a rocky start to the month for stocks, including those in the semis space. One week ago, on the first trading session of September, Nvidia fell 9% and wiped out about $279 billion of its value for the biggest one-day drop in market capitalization for any U.S. stock in history. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was down almost 12% last week, its worst weekly loss in more than four years. Further, all three of the major averages posted sharp weekly declines, with the S & P 500 seeing its worst week since the regional bank crisis of 2023. With the new trading month underway, Mizuho spotlighted 24 of its highest-conviction ideas across six sectors. The Wall Street firm’s newest additions to its top picks list include chip giant Micron Technology and oil and gas company Coterra Energy . Below are some of the firm’s top stock picks for September. Micron is one of the key names on Mizuho’s list. Shares fell 10% last week amid signs of weakness in the sector, and they have moved even lower in the past three months, falling more than 33%. But with possible tailwinds from more artificial intelligence adoption through next year, Mizuho sees Micron as “well positioned” in the AI arms race, particularly due to share gains in the high bandwidth memory market. “We also see continued pricing improvements, mostly in traditional DRAM and NAND as drivers of continued upside for MU, as AI on-device requires additional content but demand for such devices remains fairly muted,” analyst Vijay Rakesh wrote in a note to clients. Energy Transfer remains one of the firm’s top picks for September because of an attractive free cash flow yield, growth outlook and discounted valuation. With a price target of $20, the stock has an implied upside of nearly 26% as of Friday’s close. Shares are up more than 15% this year. Like Mizuho, Wolfe Research recently added Energy Transfer to its Alpha List for the month, seeing significant upside ahead. Lowe’s is one of the three names on the list that Mizuho is more bullish on than the Street’s consensus. Of the 36 analysts reporting on the retailer, 16 have a buy or strong buy rating on the stock, while 18 are neutral, according to LSEG. The average price is around $256, which implies around 5% upside from Friday’s close. Meanwhile, Mizuho’s target of $280 implies upside of nearly 15%, and the firm sees Lowe’s as “decisively well-positioned” to benefit from anticipated demand recovery in the industry. “The home improvement sector is moving towards the later stages of postpandemic digestion, with LOW set to favorably lap the more pronounced downshift in DIY spending starting in Q3,” analyst David Bellinger wrote in the analyst note. He added that any future easing by the Federal Reserve “could unlock significant pent-up demand.” “We envision a scenario where existing home sales bounce back to a more conducive ~4.5M annual level and propel sector demand upwards,” Bellinger said. Mizuho isn’t alone in its stance, as Lowe’s was also just added to JPMorgan’s September focus list. This year, the stock is up more than 9%.
